Search location by ZIP code

NEWS ARCHIVE

Sleep: Sweet Dreams

We spend three quarters of our sleep, or roughly 25% of our lives, in the mystical place we call Dreams.

Share

Shares

Copy Link

{copyShortcut} to copy
Link copied!

Updated: 7:50 PM EDT May 31, 2018

Sleep: Sweet Dreams

We spend three quarters of our sleep, or roughly 25% of our lives, in the mystical place we call Dreams.

Share

Shares

Copy Link

{copyShortcut} to copy
Link copied!

Updated: 7:50 PM EDT May 31, 2018

Hide TranscriptShow Transcript

WEBVTT ANTHONY: WHILE ASLEEP AND DREAMING, SOME PEOPLE ARE AWARE THEY ARE DREAMING AND CAN CHOOSE TO CHANGE THE "PLOT" -- IF YOU WILL -- OF THE DREAM. SHAYNA: MORE THAN THAT. MANY PEOPLE CAN TRAIN THEMSELVES TO DO THIS. BUT LET’S BACK UP TO ASK, WHY DO WE DREAM IN THE FIRST PLAC >> AN EAGLE FLYING THROUGH THE LOOSE SKY AND A FLOATING CROSSWALK, A FEW CLUES YOU HAVE LEFT THE WORLD BEHIND AND YOU ARE IN A DREAM. THAT MYSTICAL PLACE ARE ROUGHLY 25% OF OUR LIVES. OUR UNDERSTANDING OF DREAMS IS A SLOW EVOLUTION. >> 4000 YEARS AGO, DREAMS WERE SEEN AS GIFTS THAT GOD’S PLACED IN OUR MINDS TO GIVE US A MESSAGE, THAT THEY WERE NOT WILLING TO TELL US. >> ROBERT IS NOT YOUR AVERAGE HARVARD PROFESSOR. DO NOT LET HIS HUMOR DISTRACT YOU FROM THE FACT HE IS ONE OF A HANDFUL OF TRILLION PIONEERS WHO HAVE WRITTEN THE BOOK ON -- HANDFUL OF BRILLIANT PIONEERS OF WRITTEN THE BOOK ON MODERN DREAM THEORY. >> FREUD CAME ALONG WITH HIS INTERPRETATION THAT DREAMS ARE ABOUT FOR BID AND DESIRES, THE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO -- ABOUT FORBIDDEN DESIRES, THE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO. FOLLOWING THAT, THE SCIENCE SAID THAT DREAMS ARE JUST THE RANDOM FIRINGS OF NO RUNS. THAT CHANGED WHEN A MAN -- A WOMAN WORKING WITH ME DECIDED DREAMING IS JUST A PART OF WHAT WE NOW KNOW IS A NYLON MECHANISM OF INFORMATION IN MEMORY PROCESSING. -- A NIGHT LONG MECHANISM OF INFORMATION AND MEMORY PROCESSING. >> IT INVOLVED SIMULATION. AFTERWARDS, THEY LEFT. IT IS NO SURPRISE THEY REPORTED DREAMING ABOUT THE MAZE. >> THE SUBJECTS WHO LEFT DID BETTER. WE THINK WHAT DREAMING IS DOING, IT IS SAYING I’M LOOKING FOR THOSE BORROWED ASSOCIATIONS TO SEE IF I CAN PULL TOGETHER SOMETHING THAT MAKES MORE SENSE. >> A SIMPLE EXPLANATION. WHY DO WE CARE SO MUCH? >> WHEN WE ARE IN SLEEP, WE ARE SHUT OFF THE RELEASE OF SEROTONIN. WHEN SEROTONIN GETS SHUT OFF, WE MIMIC THE ACTION OF LSD. IT PUTS THE BRAIN INTO A MODE THAT AS SOON AS THE CONNECTIONS ARE MEANINGFUL -- THAT ASSUMES THE CONNECTIONS ARE MEANINGFUL. >> DREAM ROMANTICS CAN HAVE PLENTY OF FUN WHILE SLEEPING BY USING A TECHNIQUE EXPLORED IN THIS SHORT FILM. >> LUCID DREAMING IS WHEN YOU BECOME AWARE WHAT YOU ARE DREAMING THAT YO ARE DREAMING. ONCE YOU BECOME LUCID, YOU CAN START TO ALTER THE CONTENT OF THE DREAM AND THE NARRATIVE. >> CAPE COD-BASED ARTIST RITA DOES THE OPPOSITE, TURNING REALITY INTO DREAMLIKE NARRATIVES WITH HER IMAGES. >> I WOULD SAY 90% OF Y OUR WORK TELLS A STORY. MOST OF WHAT I DO IS PHOTOGRAPHY BASE. IN THE PROCESS, IT BECOMES SOMETHING ELSE. >> TO HEAR HER DESCRIBE AN IMAGE IS LIKE ENTERING A DREAM. >> I FEEL DREAMS ARE STRONG AS FAR AS MAKING YOU MORE AWARE OF WHAT IS GOING ON IN THOSE DEEPER LEVELS OF YOUR PSYCHE. IT SEEMS TO COME OUT IN MY ART. >> THE CAPE COD ART CENTER HOSTED AN EXHIBIT CALLED DREAM SAY. >> WE CAME UP WITH DREAM STATE TO SEE WHAT WE WOULD GET AND IT WAS INCREDIBLE. >> THIS IMAGE, ENTITLED "HAUNTED," WAS THE BEST OF SHOW, AN IMAGE THAT PERSONIFIES THE POTENTIAL OF THE MEDIUM WHICH HAS NO LIMITS. >> WHEN YOU ARE ABLE TO FREE YOURSELF OF ALL OF THESE LIMITS IMPOSED ON US AS CREATORS, WE CAN START TO CREATE BEAUTIFUL ART. ANTHONY: BACK TO THE PROFESSOR, ONE QUESTION HE GETS, WHY CAN’T I REMEMBER MY DREAMS? >> IT IS BECAUSE OUR DREAMS ARE NOT STORED IN OUR LONG-TERM MEMORIES. IF YOU WANT TO REMEMBER YOUR DREAMS, DRINK THREE LARGE GLASSES OF WATER BEFORE YOU GO TO BED. IT WILL PROMPT YOU TO WAKE UP TO GO TO THE BATHROOM AND FROM TWO TO REMEMBER THEM. ANTHONY: THIS RHODE ISLAND COMPANY HAS A STAMP OF APPROVAL FROM NASA. >> THE COM

Advertisement

Sleep: Sweet Dreams

We spend three quarters of our sleep, or roughly 25% of our lives, in the mystical place we call Dreams.